08/14/2011 WWE Summerslam 2011

WWE Title Match: CM Punk (C) def. John Cena (C) in 24:06 

Yes, we just passed the fifteenth anniversary of this match (fuck, we’re old), so I figured, why not? No, I’m not asleep at the wheel. I have both men listed as champions because this was after MITB, when Punk walked out with the title, and Cena won a tournament to become the vacant champion. Hunter was the special referee because, in the storyline, Vince was ousted as CEO and they named Hunter his replacement, which is funny as fuck, given the parallels that would happen later in life if you followed the WWE sale lawsuit closely. They worked it like an old-school classic world title match, using a lot of tight headlocks and a lot of grappling early on. Perhaps one could argue it was a little slow to start, but I thought it built into a great match by the end. The crowd got into the big moves and nearfalls, including each man’s multiple finishers, but the music between the notes looked good, tooq. Cena may have thrown the best dropkick of his entire career before a five-knuckle shuffle. The crowd reaction wasn’t like Chicago at MITB; they were still heavily in Punk’s corner, but even they couldn’t fully pop for the Punk win after a second GTS. Cena’s foot was clearly on the rope, and Hunter missed it, so it came across as cheap for the majority of the crowd that wanted Punk to win. I didn’t like the ending, but it was still a great match. **** 

It should be noted that WWE Vault has completely edited out Kevin Nash laying out Punk and Alberto Del Rio cashing in the briefcase to win the title. And as we covered recently, Hunter beat Punk at the next PPV. Jesus, I know Punk was a total pain in the ass, but for him to get a bullshit win, then lose his title, then lose to another top guy at the next big show, and have that be the follow-up to MITB was the clinical definition of short-sighted.

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